Enlargement Commissioner: Meeting Interim Benchmarks in Cluster 1 Major Milestone for Albania

Marta Kos (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Albania has met the interim benchmarks in Cluster 1 in accession talks with the European Union, which European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos described as a major milestone on the road to EU membership.

"Albania reached the interim benchmarks, and we set the closing benchmarks for fundamentals such as an independent judiciary and anti-corruption measures. This is a major milestone as it allows Albania to start closing negotiating chapters," Kos said in social media posts on May 27.

"Now begins the most demanding phase of the negotiations, preparing to join the Union, and further build the trust with Member States," Kos added in the post. The eighth meeting of the accession conference on Albania's accession, which took place in Brussels on May 26, confirmed that the country had met the interim benchmarks in Cluster 1, the fundamentals, which covers Chapter 23 (the judiciary and fundamental rights), Chapter 24 (justice, freedom and security), the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform and economic criteria, Chapter 5 (public acquisition), Chapter 18 (statistics) and Chapter 32 (financial oversight).

Albania opened all clusters over the last two years, the last one in November 2025. "With today’s step, the EU and Albania will be in a position to start closing negotiating chapters. Monitoring of progress in the alignment with and implementation of the EU acquis and relevant European standards will continue throughout the negotiations," the Council of the EU said in a statement.